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Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Inside the Playbook: Minnesota's Use of TEs to Attack the Hole

I’ve talked previously about the advantage of having good
H-backs in an offensive system. Minnesota, coming off the Maxx Williams era,
has continued to use TEs/H-Backs/FBs in a variety of ways to present match up
issues through the use of formations/keys. Against Michigan – a team that
primarily plays Cover 1 with a very deep center-field safety – they used the position of the H-Back to attack
what is known as the “hole” of the defense. The hole – typically associated
with Cover 2 teams – is the void in the defense in front of the safety level
(typically directly between the two-high safeties) and behind the LB level.
Let’s take a look at how Minnesota attacked this void through the air, and how
it was set up with their formations.

Heavy Personnel –
Split TEs

Minnesota comes out in 22 personnel (2-TEs and 2-RBs) and
only 1 WR. This forces Michigan to stay in at least their base defensive
personnel group of a 4-3, but they went one better and came out in a 4-4, further limiting their options. When the Gophers break the huddle, they split two heavy
guys to the field, another to the boundary, and the WR (Maye) in the slot to
the boundary. Minnesota then motions the WR from the boundary to the #3
position to the field.

Defensive Reaction

Forcing the defense to come out in a 4-3 limits how the
defense can play this. The defense really has five options here:

Rotate the field CB inside.

Move a safety down

Lock with the motion and have boundary CB follow
WR across formation

Walk out a LB

Go zone

Some of these options overlap; all of them have weaknesses.

Let’s start with the first option: rotating the field CB
inside to match up with the WR. CBs like to play on the outside; it is where
they are accustomed to taking on a run play, it’s where they are comfortable
with where to take their eyes, it’s where they can limit the direction
receivers can attack you. It’s also the position the receiver has the most
space to work, in that the defender has a lot of field to cover. Moving a CB
inside forces another defender to cover that space, either a safety or a LB.
Moving the WR into the #3 position with late motion would mean that the CB
would have to communicate a very late switch with either a safety or a LB to
get on the outside guy while he moved inside; the risks the defense not being
set up and having a communication breakdown.

This now overlaps with the second item above. Most likely, a
safety is already rotated down to cover the #2; if not, he’s helping out over
the top. But by rotating a safety down, you are tipping your coverage. Either
the defender on the outside (either a LB who isn’t used to working in space or
an out-sized CB) has no help over the top. The only other option is to move the
boundary safety across the field to help over the top or move him across the
field to cover the WR. Neither of these things are optimal. Moving the safety
pre-snap leaves a one-on-one situation with an out-sized player to the
boundary; it also still has a safety matched up with a WR in the slot (tough
cover) and leaves no one deep or has safety help over the top but still leaves
you with matchup problems still (to the boundary, #1 to the field with no help
over the top; LB in space either over #2 or covering a WR).

Here’s what it looks like rotating the field safety down.

And here’s the issue rotating the boundary safety down.

The third option is something Michigan ended up countering
with, and is another advantage to adding the motion man. Motioning across the
formation tips the coverage. Now you have a CB locked onto a WR moving through
wash to get to the far side of the field. This sets up a lot of rub routes and
is a very difficult cover for the CB. Similarly, it still leaves another player
to defender the boundary player that isn’t accustomed to covering in space.
Either a LB (though he may have safety help over the top, but that likely
limits safety help over the trips side or forces the defense to play with 5
defenders in the box) or moving a safety onto an island to the boundary.

The fourth option has been discussed in a few of these. You
can cover #2 and #3 with LBs, but this takes two defenders out of the box
(leaving you with five against five blockers and two potential ball carriers)
and still often sees a LB matched up against a WR. Yes, the coverage has help,
but run support does not; and it’s typically the MIKE (often the worst cover
LB) that is forced to cover the #3.

As far as going zone, that works, but your hand is tipped
(often by the motion of the WR). You lose the tight coverage you desire, and
you’re still forced to have LBs try to cover quicker counterparts underneath.

How It Works for
Minnesota

So what you see is that, simply by formation, Minnesota has
forced Michigan into a tough situation for how they want to play it. Michigan
ends up leaving both CBs on the outside threats, moving a LB out over #2
(leaving the field safety to help over the top), and moving the MIKE into sort
of an apex position between #3 and the offensive EMOL. The MIKE is put into a
run/pass conflict, and the coverage is tipped. Minnesota attacks the hole.

The Minnesota WR runs what I’m calling a Quick 6 (aka. Bolt
Route, Slice Route; it may be a choice route but I doubt it) it which his stems
quickly inside, gets vertical behind the LB (often the stem to set up a corner
route or an out route) and then slants across the field directly into the hole
of the defense, behind the LBs (setting himself up in the throwing lane between
the underneath defenders) and in front of the safety. Easy-peasy lemon-squeezy.

H-Back in a
Blocking-Back Position

Blocking-Back (BB) designation comes from old single-wing to
separate the positioning of the player from that of a wing-back (typically off
the LOS outside a TE or OT) or an Halfback (typically half way back – hence the
name – and offset). The Blocking-Back lines up directly behind the OL, lined up
between an OT and OG. As the term indicates, they are most often used for
blocking, as they allow the offense to insert a blocker through the LOS or
outside the LOS with the additional benefit of often times hiding him behind
the big uglies up front (as to not give away the play direction). Rarely are
they used in the pass game except to leak out of the backfield, as their
position makes it difficult to get a clean vertical release.

How It Works for
Minnesota

Minnesota likes to run Lead Inside Zone to the weak side of
the formation. The BB position puts that FB/HB in a spot to get through the LOS
quickly and attack the playside LB before he can get down into the hole the RB is trying to attack; so
it’s a good spot to run the ball out of.

For that reason, it’s also a good spot to run play action
out of. By positioning him in the BB position, it forces the LB into a really
difficult run/pass conflict. While the OL doesn’t hard sell the run fake, the
OT still kicks the DE and the is still OG moves inside on the interior
defender, and combined with the FB coming full speed at the LB, it sells it
enough to force the LB to react down to defend the run immediately.

This reaction to the run allows the BB to slip the block and
run what is often referred to as a “bender” route (though typically run from
the slot, this has the same purpose) in which the receiver starts by slightly
stemming outside before bending his route back inward and attacking the void in
the defense. He can do so by either carrying out the seam or post, flattening
his route into more of a dig, or running into the hole of the defense and
settling. The ball comes out before the receiver can even settle though, and
it’s a big gain as the offense, with their positioning and tendency, has forced
the LB into a very difficult conflict.

Conclusion

I love moving players around because it forces the defense
to think constantly. On top of that, it gives the offense ways to exploit how
defenses typically set up and react. Both of these plays are examples of
Minnesota doing just that with their TE group. It’s something you see more and
more around football today, and is a key way in which Minnesota remains a
“heavy team” but still stressed the defense in the pass game.